Survey of the health status of the employees over 50 years in industries and its relationship with Job characteristics, the quality of health and ergonomic services at workplace

Abstract

Background: Ageing of the working population is a crucial issue in industrialised countries؛ it parallels the increasing ageing of the general population. In the industrialised countries the population above 50 years of age will grow considerably in the next years. Aging is associated with human resources change and reduced performance. Generally, work requirements should be in balance with the resources of workers during the entire working life. But, usually, job requirements do not change in many industries with age. Therefore, older employees are forced to work close to their maximum capacity and ability, and this causes the person to be more exposed to chronic fatigue and musculoskeletal disorders, and if the exposure is prolonged, absenteeism, illness, reduced ability to work and finally to Inability to work leads. Purpose: One of the most important issues is to maintain the health conditions of older workers and this leads to maintaining the ability to work, independence and social integration of older people. It is a necessary study to be investigated of the health status of middle-aged and older workers, the characteristics and occupational of working environments. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 1000 employees of over 50 years Cluster sampling. The study data were collected by using the Persian version of the French questionnaire "Health and Professional Life after 50" and a researcher-made checklist of quality health and ergonomic services the workplace. Version of the French questionnaire was translated into Persian by forward and backward translation method. The content validity of the tool was determind with the lawshe method and its reliability was determined with the test-retest method and Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, correlation test, General Linear Models) GLM (and mixed modeling. Results: In this study "Health and Professional Life after 50", French questionnaire was translated into Persian and its validity and reliability were evaluated and confirmed. Correlation coefficient was acceptable. Cronbach's alpha and internal correlation were more than 0.7. The average score for work characteristics (conditions and factors in the work environment), was 40.89 with a standard deviation of 18.54. In this study the most conditions of work included long working time, work under pressuer and work with high physical need. For the health domain, the mean score was 19.37 with a standard deviation of 16.35. Also, 46.3% of employees stated that their health condition has deteriorated in recent years;The most common health problems were pain and physical discomfort (41%), musculoskeletal disorders (33.3%) and hearing problems (31.9%); On the impact of workplace conditions on health, 55.7% of employees mentioned the negative impact of workplace conditions on their health.There was a direct and significant relationship between the healt scores with feature of work scores and the job resources scores. The relationship of health score with the dimensions of the checklist was not significant. Conclusion: Validity and reliability of “Health and Professional Life after 50” questionnaire was confirmed in this study. Therefore, it can be used as an appropriate tool for studying health problems and work environment of senior people in different researches and for different occupational groups. Identifying and evaluating health and workplace problems, and ultimately adjusting the working environment to the ability of older people and maintaining their health can be helpful in reducing health costs and increasing productivity.